London 2012 Olympics: Team GB's Helen Jenkins is favourite to win gold in the women's triathlon

Helen Jenkins’ determination to stay focused before the race of her life on
Saturday has been so total that she has remained faithful to her routine,
running through the hills of South Wales while listening to Bruce
Springsteen, for much of the week.

Yet when Jenkins did eventually depart for London on Wednesday morning, her train had barely pulled out of Bridgend before the sheer scale of British Olympics fever became apparent. “Someone had the Olympics playing on their iPhone,” she said. “They announced that we just won our first gold medal and everyone in the train carriage just started cheering. It was amazing and just made you realise the support that there is for our athletes.”

From 9am on Saturday, such support will be focused on Jenkins when several hundred thousand fans are expected to line Hyde Park, Constitution Hill and Buckingham Palace for the triathlon, one of the few free and unticketed events of these Olympics. It is also one of Team GB’s best hopes for medals, with Jenkins, a double world champion, favourite to win the women’s event and the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, aiming for a gold and silver on Tuesday.

Jenkins has a calm but steely demeanour which suggests that she will be unfazed by the likely bedlam around her. Having started out in sport as a swimmer, she found triathlon at the age of 15 and, under the guidance of her coach (and husband) Marc Jenkins, appears now close to her peak. She will aim simply to be in contention at the front of the race, hopefully with Hall and Holland by her side, after the 1500 metres swim and benefit from largely riding in their slipstream during the 43km cycle. There are then few faster in the final 10km run.

“We want it to be hard in all three disciplines,” she said. “I know that if I get it right, if everything plays into my hands, I can win. If it rains that will also be good because we did all our training in the rain in Bridgend.”

Team GB’s determination to win a medal was underlined earlier this year by the controversial selection of Vicky Holland and Lucy Hall in the team alongside Jenkins. The rationale, especially in the inclusion of Hall, a specialist in swimming, was to select those athletes who were best equipped to help Jenkins. Liz Blatchford and Jodie Stimpson, who had both figured prominently in world triathlon series events this year, were unsuccessful in their appeals.

“We had a number of Olympic experiences when they did not work as a team and the results were not always great,” said Malcolm Brown, Team GB’s Olympic performance manager. “The selectors had to make a very brave decision and decided that Helen was the person who could win a medal.”

Such an openly stated team strategy, however, could lead other nations to work against Team GB in the way that denied Mark Cavendish gold in the men’s road race last Saturday.

Brown said: “You only have to ask Helen or Alistair and Jonny Browning whether they would prefer to have someone supporting them and I think you would get the same answer.” Jenkins nods in agreement. “The aim is to win a medal and I think it is more likely with the three of us working together,” she said.